Going on a Safari Tour has been one of my top bucket-list thing to do. I am so grateful for the opportunity to cross this out of my bucket-list! It is definitely not going to be my last either, I would love to go on another Safari Tour somewhere else like Kenya or Tanzania. Seeing the animals in the wild felt unreal. Loved seeing them out in the wilderness, just being free.
We decided to go on a 4 days 3 nights Private Safari Trip with Africa on Foot which cost me about $1.5k SGD. It is pretty costly but we did not mind paying for the experience. We have an early morning game drives/bush walk and game drives every evening, plus food is inclusive too. It also includes my transportation from Johannesburg to National Kruger Park (which is like 6 hours drive away). How much time do you need in a Safari really depends. The park is huge (19,485 km²). Twenty six times bigger than Singapore. The chances of meeting all the animals are endless. We were lucky, because we managed to find all the Big 5 animals during our 3 night stay. Some could see everything in a day, some could not see everything in 4 days so it really depends. The best thing to do is to lower your expectations. Come with an open mind. Let it come to you.
DAY 1 – GOING TO THE SAFARI
Our day started as early as 6 am because we had an early drive to Klasarie Private Nature Reserve. The drive was alright, we had a few Pit stops for brunch/toilet breaks. By the time we reached Africa on Foot bound, it was around 2 pm so we settled down. Not long after that we’re ready to hit the road again. Off to our first range rover ride! I loved every bits of it, such an exciting feeling to be sitting in an open vehicle looking for wildlife animals! The first time seeing the animals are always the most exciting. We saw elephants, zebras, hippo, leopard, African buffalos, springbok, hyena on Day 1. Not sure if I am forgetting anything else :’) Our first sunset in the savannah was the best, just watching the sky as it changes its color.
DAY 2 – OUR FIRST BUSH WALK!
Of course we had an early start to the day. Our schedule in Africa on foot is pretty fixed. We were told to be ready by 6:30 am in the morning to get ready for our drives. We had a good weather that day so consider ourselves lucky! Our rangers decided to look out for elephants by foot. It was a really refreshing walk. While we were looking out for elephants, our rangers told us to kept quiet and stopped us from walking. Little did we know there were a mom and baby rhino hidden behind the bush not far away from us. Thankfully they ran away in another direction (not at us, phew) but it happened in a blink of an eye so my camera were not fast enough to capture the moment (Girl, I wasn’t ready). We kept walking and finally saw a male giant elephant! He wasn’t very welcoming so we did not stay for very long. Being on foot and on the same ground as the wild elephants felt out of the world. Actually everything about this trip felt surreal for me. On our way back in our range rover ride, we met more females and baby elephants just munching on the trees away. Did you know that 90% of the naked tress in the Savannah were actually eaten by the elephants? Did you know that we can also make fire with elephant poop?
We also met two lovely ladies from Netherlands and another two ladies from Italy! Such a fun group for our first night in the Safari. Our evening game drive was quite an exciting one. We saw most of the animals we saw on the first day. But the most memorable thing that happened was probably during our tea break. We were surrounded by hunting hyenas. They eat bones. Hyenas have extremely strong jaws and compared to their body size, they are one of the most powerful of the mammals. Our rangers just told us to stay calm and the most important thing to do is not to run if they come to you, otherwise they might mistaken you as their prey. For now, I will label them as nice, since I did not witness them attacking the people around me.
We also decided to sleep in the tree house tonight (just because it is probably going to be a once in a lifetime experience). After dinner we got ready to head to our tree house and I was surprised that we actually took the range rover instead of walking. Our rangers said that it’s because it’s dark and there are a lot of night animals so if we were to walk, she needs to bring the gun. Oh yes, they brought the gun during our morning bush walk too. Just in case if you need it since we are on foot. We were given a walkie talkie, a torch light and a horn. Quoting what my ranger said, “If there’s in a hyena on the second floor, use the walkie talkie to contact us.” She’s probably just scaring us, but obviously it is possible. I was not too worried because our treehouse were surrounded by wired fence. Though you can never be too complacent because anything can happen in the wild. There is a huge field of bush right in front of us in our treehouse but we did not see anything exciting. Spotted a few eyes, it’s probably just springbok so we just shine our light away because they are not night animals. Shining the light on them will just blind them and they will be at a disadvantage to run away if night animals are around to hunt. Not long after we decided to call it a night (we were obviously knackered by then). Safe to say we slept peacefully.
DAY 3 – 2 GAMES DRIVES IN A DAY
The morning weather were not very lovely today. We have decided to take the game drive instead of our regular morning bush walk. Bush walk is sure fun, but walking means lesser chance of seeing more animals since your leg can only cover so much within a period of time. While going on a game drive, you can cover more, so your chances of seeing more animals are higher. We had so much fun during our morning game drive. We even saw the giraffes! The most memorable time was during our tea time by the dam. There were no animals in sight when we got there. But not long after we saw a school of elephants walking towards the dam. It was funny, because I was just talking to my friend about how exciting if we were to see elephants playing by the water since we had seen them eat the trees so much. And here they are having a good tea time session with us. Can you tell how excited we got? They didn’t spend a-lot of time there, probably less than 30 minutes (honestly I did not keep track of the time) but they were ready to move before us. I haven’t even finish my tea! They were ready to make a move but we were kinda in their way, so they just stood there in a line. Our rangers were like “It’s time for us to go!” so here we are moving back a little with our tea cups still in our hands as we watched them walked away.
During our evening game drive, our rangers tried to look for lions but we did not have much luck. But we had a good view of the sunset by the lake during our tea break session. I was asking my rangers if it’s possible for me to fly a drone but he said we could get in trouble so I did not. When we were back at our chalet for dinner, we could actually hear the lions hunting. It would be so fun to hit the road again but nope, it doesn’t work that way haha.
DAY 4 – EPIC LAST GAME DRIVE
As per usual, we gathered at 6:30 am in the morning and we were told that we have a good chance of seeing the lions today. It was extra cold that morning. It was a little foggy and suddenly, here comes a group of baby lions! Its mom have left them behind to go hunting. They probably had just finished a meal because they looked cozy and at peace. We were so glad that we managed to tick off the last Big 5 animals from our list!
Overall, a safari experience is definitely an out of the world experience. It is not the same feeling having to see the animals in the zoo. Seeing them in the wild in their natural habitat feels extra special. Knowing how they can be free as much as we can. Indescribable feeling. I’d definitely recommend everyone to try it once in their lifetime.
Big shout of to Africa on foot for taking good care of us and making us feel safe despite being in the wild! So much love for Africa ❤
Memories in the making 